One of the challenges with using mobile computing devices is the difficulty using the small displays and tiny input components. Likewise, voice activated devices with no display areas can make the initial assignment of voice commands challenging. Tiny thumb keyboards, triple tapping through letters, numbers and symbols, using a stylus to “write”, or training the voice recognition software can be frustrating and deter people from fully utilizing their mobile device. Adding to the frustration, most people still spend a significant amount of time near more robust computing devices such as desktop and laptop computers which have easier methods for inputting data and larger display areas. However, these more robust computing devices are not integrated with the mobile device and, accordingly, cannot be used to ease use thereof.
There are software programs like Palm™ Desktop for personal digital assistants, MOBILedit! for cell phones, and iTunes for music players that allow a user to input data on a computer for the mobile device and synchronize the data between the mobile device and the computer. These programs, however, synchronize data in an asynchronous fashion which causes time delays and can complicate the process of keeping data up-to-date on a mobile device. Further, the software on the computing device is preprogrammed to match the specific functionality of the mobile device which requires specific software versions based on the proprietary data formats used by the various mobile devices and frequent software upgrades as the mobile device evolves. Additionally, the software on the computing device has no awareness of the active content of the mobile device and will interrupt any running processes to synchronize. This lack of awareness prevents one from initiating a mobile device function from the computing device.
Accordingly, an improved interface that interacts directly with a mobile device while leveraging the more robust resources of an external computing device without creating synchronization issues would be advantageous. Additionally, a method that allows mobile device users to access the functionality, data and content of the mobile device from a more robust computing device would be desirable.